Electro-acupuncture to Treat Disorder of Consciousness

February 12, 2024 updated by: Fang Yuan, The Second Affiliated Hospital, Guangzhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine
With the rapid development of life support technology, more and more people can survive severe brain injury. Some survivors regain consciousness after a period of coma, however, many patients develop prolonged disorders of consciousness (DOC), which poses a therapeutic challenge for clinicians and a heavy burden for their families. The investigators design an Electro-acupuncture to treat disorder of consciousness (AcuDoc) trial with the aim of validating the clinical effect of electroacupuncture in treating DOC and exploring its therapeutic mechanisms by integrating EEG, neuroimaging, evoked potential tests, and behavioral assessments.

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Recruiting

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.

Detailed Description

The AcuDoc trial is a single-center, prospective, triple masking, randomized, sham electroacupuncture-controlled study. A total of 50 adult patients with DOC and 25 healthy subjects will be enrolled in the study . Patients will be randomized into electroacupuncture (EA) group or sham EA group (1:1). All patients will receive EA or sham-EA treatment in the supine position at 9 am for 30 minutes once a day for consecutive 14 days and healthy subjects will receive no treatments. The primary objective is to determine the therapeutic benefit of electroacupuncture on the recovery of consciousness in patients with DOC after a 2-week intervention. Key secondary objective is to investigate the effect of electroacupuncture on the circuitry of consciousness using a multimodal approach integrating EEG, neuroimaging (rs-fMRI, amide proton transfer imaging, intravoxel incoherent motion imaging, neurite orientation dispersion and density imaging), and evoked potentials (SEP, BAEP). Other secondary outcomes include the effect of EA on the assessment of brain-computer interface after a 2-week intervention and on the Glasgow Outcome Scale-Extended score at 30 days and 90 days .

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

Enrollment

The number of participants in a clinical study. The "anticipated" enrollment is the target number of participants that the researchers need for the study.
50

Phase

Phase

The stage of a clinical trial studying a drug or biological product, based on definitions developed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The phase is based on the study's objective, the number of participants, and other characteristics. There are five phases: Early Phase 1 (formerly listed as Phase 0), Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, and Phase 4. Not Applicable is used to describe trials without FDA-defined phases, including trials of devices or behavioral interventions.
  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

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Study Contact

Study Contact

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Study Contact Backup

Study Locations

  • China
    • Guangdong
      • Guangzhou, Guangdong, China, 510120
        • Recruiting
        • The Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine
        • Contact:

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  1. Age ≥ 18 years;
  2. With cerebral damage due to TBI；
  3. Diagnosed with UWS or MCS based on at least two CRS-R assessments;
  4. From 4 to 16 weeks from the onset of brain injury;
  5. Informed consent obtained.

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. With a history of neurological or psychiatric disorder prior to the brain injury;
  2. With uncontrolled seizures or status epilepticus;
  3. Unstable vital signs and requiring the use of vasoactive agents;
  4. With the use of general anesthetics or central acting sedative;
  5. With contraindications to the MRI;
  6. Without intact skin at acupoints or sham points;
  7. Concomitant medical illness that would interfere with the outcome assessments and/or follow-up
  8. Pregnant patients;
  9. Currently participating in other investigational trials;
  10. High likelihood of not adhering to the study treatment or the follow-up regimen

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Triple

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Participant Group / Arm

A group or subgroup of participants in a clinical trial that receives a specific intervention/treatment, or no intervention, according to the trial's protocol.
Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.
Experimental: Electro-acupuncture group
Patients in EA group receive acupuncture at Shuigou (also known as Renzhong, GV26) and Yintang (updated number GV24+, previous number GV29). Paired electrodes from the EA apparatus are clipped to the needle handles at Shuigou and Yintang. The electroacupuncture stimulation lasts for 30 minutes with a wave of rarefaction and condensation (10 Hz / 50 Hz) and a current intensity of the maximum withstand current within 7mA. All patients receive EA at 9 am for 30 minutes once a day for consecutive 14 days.
Other: Electroacupuncture
Electro-acupuncture at Shuigou and Yintang.
Sham Comparator: Sham electro-acupuncture group
Patients in sham-EA group receive sham-EA at sham-Shuigou and sham-Yintang.Acupuncture needles are inserted into the adhesive pads but do not pierce the skin. Paired electrodes from the EA apparatus via sham connecting cords are clipped to the needle handles at sham-Shuigou and sham-Yintang. The sham connecting cords are similar in appearance to the normal ones, but the inner wires in sham connecting cords are cut off and cannot conduct electricity. All patients receive sham-EA at 9 am for 30 minutes once a day for consecutive 14 days.
Other: Sham electroacupuncture
Sham-EA at sham-Shuigou and sham-Yintang.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Coma Recovery Scale - Revised score
Time Frame: after 14 days of EA or sham-EA treatment
0 - 23, a higher score indicates a better level of consciousness
after 14 days of EA or sham-EA treatment

Secondary Outcome Measures

Secondary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, a planned outcome measure that is not as important as the primary outcome measure for evaluating the effect of an intervention but is still of interest. Most clinical studies have more than one secondary outcome measure.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
phase locking value
Time Frame: after 14 days of EA or sham-EA treatment
measured by electroencephalogram
after 14 days of EA or sham-EA treatment
amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation
Time Frame: after 14 days of EA or sham-EA treatment
measured by resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging
after 14 days of EA or sham-EA treatment
Amide proton transfer-weighted signal
Time Frame: after 14 days of EA or sham-EA treatment
measured by amide proton transfer imaging
after 14 days of EA or sham-EA treatment
f value
Time Frame: after 14 days of EA or sham-EA treatment
measured by intravoxel incoherent motion imaging
after 14 days of EA or sham-EA treatment
neurite density index
Time Frame: after 14 days of EA or sham-EA treatment
measured by neurite orientation dispersion and density imaging
after 14 days of EA or sham-EA treatment
latency value of N20
Time Frame: after 14 days of EA or sham-EA treatment
measured by somatosensory evoked potential biomarkers
after 14 days of EA or sham-EA treatment
latency between III and V potentials
Time Frame: after 14 days of EA or sham-EA treatment
measured by brainstem auditory evoked potential
after 14 days of EA or sham-EA treatment
Glasgow Outcome Scale-Extended score
Time Frame: 30 days after randomization
1 - 8, a higher score indicates better functional recovery from brain injury
30 days after randomization
Glasgow Outcome Scale-Extended score
Time Frame: 90 days after randomization
1 - 8, a higher score indicates better functional recovery from brain injury
90 days after randomization
brain-computer interface accuracy
Time Frame: after 14 days of EA or sham-EA treatment
measured by electroencephalogram-based brain-computer interface experiment
after 14 days of EA or sham-EA treatment

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
The Second Affiliated Hospital, Guangzhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine

Investigators

Investigators

A researcher involved in a clinical study. Related terms include site principal investigator, site sub-investigator, study chair, study director, and study principal investigator.
  • Study Director: Fang Yuan, PhD, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
January 1, 2024

Primary Completion (Estimated)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
January 31, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

Study Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit). The "anticipated" study completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the study completion date.
January 31, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
February 2, 2024

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
February 12, 2024

First Posted (Actual)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
February 20, 2024

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
February 20, 2024

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
February 12, 2024

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
February 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • BF2023-252

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

IPD Plan Description

The detailed datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available upon reasonable request.

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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